Revenge: Truths Revealed
by angel-aliana
Summary: The anti-Alice org is on the move.And it seems that they have something dark up their sleeve. Suddenly Mikan finds herself in the middle of a war where both sides hide in the chasm between truth and lies. Who would she believe? And who's Persona's new pet
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:** **Fatal Outing part 1**

"Ne, ne, Hotaru…" a particular brunette prettily nagged at her so called 'best friend'.

"Nanda, baka"

"Can you please come with me to Central Town? Please? Pretty, pretty please? Pleeeeaaasssseeee?"

"And why should I be the one to baby sit you? Baby sitters have high wages. You'll have to pay me 100 rabbits."

"Hotaru! You know that I don't have that kind of money! And besides, you're my best friend!", cried Mikan, her golden-chocolate brown eyes shimmering with tears.

Hotaru coldly looked Mikan over, from the tops of her pigtails to the tips of her unshined shoes, then gave out a resigned sigh.

"Shikataranaywa na. sigh Alright, but you'll be my slave for a week." She answered as she continued to tinker away with one of her new inventions.

"Yay! Hotaru's going with me!"

While Mikan continued to rejoice, she failed to notice the entrance of the two most popular boys in school until the blond-haired boy gave her a soft greeting,

"Hello, Sakura-san."

"Ruka-pyon! How nice to see you!" Then she seem to become suddenly aware of the raven-haired boy standing a little bit behind Ruka.

"Nice to see you too, Natsume!"

"Well, it's NOT nice to see you polka-dots. I get sore eyes just by looking at you."

"NATSSSSSUUUUMMMMEEEEEE! You'll pay for that!"

"Hey polka-dots. Are you really that desperate for funds that you're now asking me for money?" replied a smirking Natsume.

"NOW YOU"RE REALLY MAKING ME MAD!" Mikan suddenly launched her body towards his, aiming for a kick and a punch which Natsume evaded expertly due to practice. And again, as in all the previous times, Ruka tried to restore peace by trying to play the peacemaker.

"Now, now taritomo, onegai yamete kudasai na?" he inserted in-between the volley of heated insults that his two friends were flinging at each other.

Mikan ran up to him and caught his arm, oblivious at the sudden blush that bloomed in his cheeks and said,

"Waaah! Ruka-pyon, I really can't understand why such a nice guy like you is best friends with such a bully like him!"

"Na, na, Mi—Sakura-san", he replied while blushing at his slip, "Many of us are also wondering why such a girl like you is BEST friends with a girl like Imai.", he said sweatdropping. He then happened to look at Hotaru at that instant and suddenly felt a chill spread up his spine at the look he spied on her face. He got a bad feeling about that look. A very bad feeling indeed.

"Huh? Demo Hotaru is sooo wonderful!" Mikan answered passionately, completely missing the drama that went on between Ruka and Hotaru.

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Unbeknownst to them, Natsume who seemed to already be half-forgotten, turned away while hiding his face upon hearing Mikan's comment about his and Ruka's friendship.

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Mikan and Ruka turned as one towards Hotaru who spoke for the first time after a long interval of silence.

"You know Nogi; I've got a feeing that I'll be rich by the time this afternoon's out", she said as she produced a thick sheaf of blackmailing pictures, all of them with Ruka as the center of attention in one embarrassing situation to another.

Now Ruka knows that the feeling he just got a few moments ago were now justified.

"I-imai! I-I just meant that each of us have our own reasons in choosing our friends!"

"Too late."

Presenting her back to them, she began to walk towards the exit of the room, while Ruka suddenly seemed to be spurred into action out of sheer desperation to try to preserve some of his dignity left. As he tried to grab for the pictures out of Hotaru's grasp, a mechanical hand appeared out of nowhere and held the pictures above Ruka's head, making it hard for him to get hold of the incriminating photos. Hotaru suddenly switched into her advertising mode as she began to speak in monotone :

"Invention #343. The Grasp Evader. It will evade and evade away from being captured until such time that the pursuer will become too exhausted to fight. Now for sale for only 150 rabbits."

While Ruka chased Hotaru around despite Hotaru's warnings about the capabilities of her product, Mikan glanced at Natsume.

"Ne Natsume, would you like to go with us to Central Town?" she asked quite forgetting that a moment a go she was quite spitting mad at him.

"Hmph. And why should I go with an idiot like you. I just might catch the stupidity virus from you".

"Natsume! That was not nice!"

By this time, Ruka and Hotaru have already returned back to form their little group. And Ruka, having heard about Mikan's request of going to Central Town from a distance, suddenly came up with an idea of his own,

"Hey Natsume, why not the two of us also hang out with them in Central Town. It might be fun. Besides, I want to visit the pet store once again, and you yourself had just been complaining yesterday that you're already running low of mangas to read. Right, Natsume?" he asked for confirmation while glancing sideways at his friend, in which the only acknowledgement he got was a grunt while Natsume looked away.

And so, this odd collection of four students boarded the bus that would take them to Central Town.

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**Translations:**

**Ne- **Hey

**Baka- **idiot

**Nanda- **what/ what is it?

**Shikataranaywa na**- Oh, well, it can't be helped

**Taritomo-**You two/ (you pertaining to many)

**Onegai yamete kudasai na- **Please stop it

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This is the first time that I've ever made a fanfic, so can you at least please give me some reviews? please? thaks! I'd like to know howI did this 1st time. :D

Thanks for the reviews! Hope that you'll hang around for the next chapters.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- The Fatal Outing part 2**

"Oh! Oh! Look Hotaru! These are so pretty! And look there too! Aren't they cute?"

Mikan exclaimed as she flitted from one store to another. "Can I buy this? Please?" she pleaded with her passive best friend with puppy dog eyes.

"Use your money baka."

"Of course! I'm going to buy fluff puffs!"

"Sakura-san, ano, why don't we split up so that we can visit the stores we'd like to visit. That way, we can conserve our time and we can still have a snack before the last bus arrives." Ruka shyly offered his suggestion.

"That's a great idea!" Mikan exclaimed happily.

"Alright. Is it alright with the two of you?" he turned towards their other two caompanions, asking for confirmation. At the two's nods, he continued:

"Well, it's settled then. I' off towards the pet shop, and I assume that Imai's to the hardware and metal parts store and Natsume is going towards the manga store. So then just in case of emergencies, we'd know where to find each other. How about you Sakura-san?"

"Me? I'm going to the candy-store!"

"A-Ah." Ruka sweat dropped. "That's all decided, then. So lets just meet after, say, 2 hours. It'd be 5 o'clock in that clock", he said, gesturing with his head the time piece that can be seen by everyone in the town. "Our venue would be the--" he trailed off, searching for a suitable meeting place. His gaze alighted upon a cozy eating place just by the corner and he gestured towards it with his hand. "There."

"Alright!" Mikan crowed and set off towards the candy shop.

"Hmph." Was Natsume's only reaction.

"Idiot." Said Hotaru.

And so the four of them set off towards their intended destinations.

Mikan, after buying two boxes of fluff puffs, was sitting in one of the benches under a tree in the park and was in candy lover's heaven. Hotaru meanwhile, was busy haggling down the prices of the metal pieces she was intending to buy. Ruka was in the pet shop playing with all of the animals, and Natsume was adding another handful of mangas to the growing stack of the stuff carried by the manager who was trailing behind him.

All was well and it was peaceful aside from the noise of the shoppers when it was all shattered by a large explosion that can be heard through-out the place. And just as suddenly, pandemonium reigned as all the people panicked around them. Hotaru, Ruka, and Natsume ran swiftly towards their meeting place while all the people around them were running towards the opposite direction. They saw smoke and a fire that was swiftly spreading in the direction from where the people all ran from. The three of them put their efforts into keeping from being swept away by the crowd and in staying together. Ruka suddenly noticed that Mikan was nowhere in sight.

"Hey, where's Mikan!"

"She's probably lost in the crowd. The idiot." Hotaru replied, seemingly unconcerned.

"She'll probably think that it's the circus come to town." Natsume added.

Ruka sweat dropped at his to companions' comments but then got serious and said, "Either way, we have to find her. I think something serious happened."

"(sigh) She'll then have to pay me my baby sitting fee." Hotaru commented in an emotionless voice.

Ruka sweat dropped again at Hotaru's comment. "I-Imai…"

Just then, the loudspeakers located around Central Town was put into use, "Attention to all shoppers! The Anti-Alice Organization is now attacking Central Town. Please don't panic in order to avoid more accidents. Vehicles are waiting to transport you into safety in the bus station. Move together in groups for safety. Evacuation is in order. I repeat. The Anti-…".

"The Anti-Alice Organization! What are they doing here?" Ruka worriedly asked to no one in particular.

"Those bastards." Natsume muttered angrily.

"It's now more imperative that we find Mikan." Ruka said while starting to run towards the direction of the candy shop with the two following immediately at his heels. When they arrived there, there was no sign of any people left, least of all Mikan.

"That idiot. Where could she have gone to?" Hotaru said.

"Why don't we try the park?" Ruka suggested, refusing to give up on their search.

And in the park, there still was no sign of the brunette.

"Damn. Where could she have gone? She's really a lot of trouble." Natsume angrily said.

"You could just have said no to her when she asked you to come." Hotaru coolly replied.

Suddenly, they heard a shout coming from the opposite direction, and as they turned towards the owner of the voice, they saw to their surprise that it was Narumi-sensei coming towards them hurriedly. When their teacher reached them at last, he was out of breath and was having difficulty in speaking, "M-….Mi-…"

"What's the matter Narumi-sensei?" Hotaru asked.

"Mikan!" Narumi got out at last. "Where is she? I thought she was with you!"

"Well, she was", Ruka said defensively. "We're now trying to find her."

"We've got to find her, fast! She's in danger!" Narumi replied frantically.

"What do you mean she's in danger?" Hotaru asked ominously.

"The Anti-Alice organization is after her." Narumi answered quietly.

"That idiot? Why ever would they be after her? She'd be of no use to them." Natsume replied angrily, somehow trying to cover up the fact that he's in fact now getting worried.

"You don't know anything about Mikan's past. I think that you should just keep your thoughts to yourself until after you know the bare facts." Narumi flung back at him angrily. Surprisingly, it kept Natsume quiet, as he was taken back by Narumi's words.

"How did you know that they're after Mikan?" Hotaru coolly asked.

"We captured one of them and used the Truth-telling alice in order to know their real motives. Unfortunately, he didn't know as to the 'why' they were taking Mikan. So the primary thing that we have to focus on now is finding Mikan. That's our top-most priority. The other teachers are now trying to find out their means of getting inside the campus so that we would know their route of exit." Narumi explained while running at a fast pace. After a few minutes of running back and forth, they still haven't found a trace of Mikan, even after separating to make their search faster. Drawing abreast a copse of trees, they paused to get back their breaths.

"Where on Earth is she? It would be disastrous if the Anti-Alice Organization get their hands on her." Narumi panted.

"Disastrous in what way?" asked Hotaru, who, when they turned to glance at her, was riding her scooter.

"I-Imai! Why are you riding on that? It's unfair!" Ruka protested.

"I'm tired. If you want one you can buy one from me for only 1500 rabbits." Hotary returned.

Ruka: (sigh).

Then suddenly, they heard undistinguished voices just beyond the copse of trees. The sources of the voices were too far away, but it seemed that one was urgent.

"We'd better check it out. It might be someone who needs help." Narumi said as he walked hurriedly towards the voices. As they came to a clearing, they were startled to find that the source of the frantic voice was none other than Mikan. And with her was a man who seemed to be trying to cajole her into something. Mikan, seeming to sense the presence of others, immediately looked up and cried, "Narumi-sensei! Onegai na taskete! This man wants me to go with him!" The man, who was now also aware of the arriving party, sighed and grinned evilly.

"Well, I tried to get you to go with me nicely, but now it seems that I have no choice. I'd just have to force you. And he suddenly hit the back of Mikan's head, rendering her unconscious.

"NO!" Narumi shouted. Natsume tried to throw some fireballs at the man's direction, but he easily evaded them. Hotaru got out her 'baka gun' and started to shoot him herself while Ruka requested the animals that were present to help him. But the man just laughed and said, "You don't even know her worth, now do you? Making her a no star and treating her as no body. Now you would pay for your ignorance." And he gave off an evil laugh. He picked Mikan up and when Natsume got ready to fire another barrage of fireballs, Narumi surprisingly stopped him.

"No, Natsume-kun. If you try to hit him now, you'll only end up hurting Mikan too."

"Damn."

"Well then, better get going now." And before the three's stunned gazes, he suddenly disappeared.

"W-What! Where did he go!" Ruka wildly looked around them, somehow irrationally expecting to find Mikan somewhere near them.

"Oh, no. This is a disaster!" Narumi lamented.

When they finally got back to their classroom, they found out their classmates were all gathered there, waiting for them. Yuu rushed towards them and began to speak,

"Hotaru-san, what happened? The teachers are in a panic and they mentioned something about Mikan…" and he suddenly realized that Mikan was not with them.

"Where is she? Is she alright? What on earth happened?"

Hotaru sighed. She knew they would all know sooner or later, and answered Yuu's question with devastating frankness,

"Mikan got kidnapped."

**Thanks for the reviews guys! Anyways, can you please give me more reviews! Please? Thank you!**

**Chapter three may just come a bit late, but please tune in for the on coming chapters! The suspense just about begins now… **

**Hehehehe…**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Why?**

"….hurry…….do something………dangerous….."

Only catches of the hushed conversation on the other side of the door could be heard by the three students crouching by the door way.

"Damn. I can't hear them." a certain dark-purple haired boy cursed.

"Don't be so loud, idiot. You're hurting my ears. I don't want to be caught along with you. It'll ruin my chances of having that excellence award." A black haired girl answered, at the same time taking out what looked like the famous _baka_ gun.

"I-Imai-san, that'll probably make just as much noise as he does," Ruka whispered, gesturing to the thing in Hotaru's hand.

"Remind me why I'm here again? This is such a waste of time." Natsume made to stand up, but he was stopped by Hotaru's next words,

"Do whatever you want. Mikan probably doesn't expect you to be able to do anything anyway." Natsume looked away while gritting his teeth, then without saying another word, crouched down beside them again.

Hotaru suddenly began to look for something inside the small bag that she was carrying.

"Imai-san? What are you looking for?" Ruka whispered out of curiosity. Hotaru continued to rummage around her bag without answering him. After a minute o two of puttering about, she took out what seemed to look like a stethoscope. Only, this stethoscope has many pairs of ear pieces attached to it.

""Tch. What on earth is that? Don't tell us that you have another 3 pairs of ears hidden somewhere?" Natsume asked sarcastically. Without another word, Hotaru plugged a pair of the ear-pieces into Natsume's ears with enough force to break through his eardrums.

Ruka, seeing what happened to Natsume, tried to pacify Hotaru in order to avoid having the same fate as his best friend. "I-Imai-san, what is that –er—creative invention of yours?" Hotaru immediately launched again into one of her famous monologue advertisements featuring her inventions. "This is a _stealthoscope_. It allows one to eavesdrop into the most silent and hushed conversations. One can get them for only 100 rabbits each."

Ruka sweat dropped but no longer did dwell on telling Hotaru that talking to one's self was considered weird because they've already missed much of the teacher's conversations and that they might miss anymore important information being secretly disclosed. Without another word he took the pair of ear-pieces left behind and tried to keep as silent as possible in order to hear the sound being transmitted. For a while they heard nothing but silence, then suddenly, they heard clearly and distinctly the voice of Jinno-sensei,

"Well, I did try to tell you from the start that taking in that girl was a suicidal move. But no, you didn't listen to—"

"We know what you said, Jinno-sensei. You made your feelings very clear from the start. But didn't you think that if we hadn't taken her in, there would have been a greater chance that the anti-alice organization would have gotten their hands on her?"

A very familiar voice cut through the electric-Alice teacher. It was the first time that the three of them heard Narumi-sensei speak in such a cold voice. Usually, he's full of smiles and affection, but now it seems that they're seeing a new side to his personality.

"And anyway, there is a small chance that she won't go against the Alice academy since she has made many friends here. At least that's a point in our favor." Narumi continued.

"Demo, Narumi, you know of the fact that she had the potential of being a special star student, but instead, she was made a no star and was made to suffer unnecessarily. And I don't need to elaborate just whose brilliant plan it was." A woman's voice sarcastically rejoined, giving extra emphasis on the word _brilliant. _

"Special star?" Ruka whispered, surprised.

Hotaru simply smirked and said, "I was right. There's more to this than a simple kidnapping."

"What do you mean?" Ruka asked.

"First, Narumi-sensei sought us out to tell us that Mikan is in danger. If it's just a simple kidnapping, the anti-alice organization could have gotten some other victim. But why were the members told to specifically get hold of Mikan? And another thing, when I asked Narumi-sensei why it would be a disaster if they got hold of Mikan, he simply did was not able to find any answer."

Ruka was prevented from asking any more questions when they heard another voice speak up,

"There's no other choice but to try to find that girl's location as fast as possible. If those scums are able to entice her into their side…" and he let his sentence hang.

("Damn, what does he mean?")

"You all probably know that the possibility of her going over to that side is going to be tipped to their favor by you-know-who." Jinno-sensei began to speak again. "So I suggest that you all just prepare for the possibility of fighting on opposite sides with that girl."

"You're wrong about that. You don't know her as I do. She will remain on our side." Narumi interjected, but even the ones outside could also hear the slightest intonation of doubt in his voice.

"We will see, we will see. You'd just better hope for the best." Jinno-sensei grimly answered.

"Let's go." Hotaru coldly said while rudely pulling off the ear-pieces from her companion's ears.

"Wha—But---!" Ruka sputtered.

"That's probably all that were going to hear. Anyway, I think that they're already finished, so if you want to be caught, fine with me." Hotaru said while calmly putting away her gadget into her small purse that seems to be bottomless. She then calmly starts to walk away, when Ruka started to go after her,

"But, what are we going to do?"

"There's nothing for us to do at this point but to wait." Hotaru answered without looking back.

Ruka looked back towards Natsume. "Natsume…"

"Hmph. I don't care about that silly little girl. It's not my problem." Natsume replied while turning his back on Ruka and starting to walk towards the opposite direction.

"But…. Natsume…" Ruka could do nothing but watch him walk away.

But, in reality, Natsume's thoughts are in chaos…

"_Special star? But only those who get special stars are the ones who get to be sent to missions! The teachers are all in panic. And just what did they mean by 'dangerous'? That silly little girl? Are they trying to make me laugh!_

_Damn…Even Persona has shown as interest in her. Just who is she, really?..." _

**Author's message….**

_**Hello guys! It's been such a long time since you've last heard of me, I know, and for that I'm very very sorry! **_

I've just been very busy with school work these past months, add in the factor of writer's block, and _**viola!**_a how-many-months-has-it been-absence. sigh…..

but now, I've resolved to continue working on my story thanks to your guys' encouragement and support. I think that I'll soon be updating later this week right after our exams (that's on Wednesday, yay!!!) so, please just wait a little bit more, onegai?

Again, it would be so nice to hear from you too!!!

Please tune in for the oncoming chapters!!! thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Truth and Lies**

_Darkness and silence were the rulers on the place where she was held….._

As Mikan slowly regained consciousness, she gradually came to be aware of the fact that her head was pounding and that it felt like it was stuffed with a boxful of Howalons. She tried to open her eyes, but these too felt like lead shutters. She can hardly move her limbs, and when she tried to speak, her throat was so dry that it hurt.

Mikan started to feel panic overtake her as she had no inkling on her whereabouts. But as memories of what happened recently began to surface, she slowly calmed down her initial impulse to reach for Hotaru. With all her other senses blocked, she then concentrated all her might in trying to hear the things that were going on around her, and was met with dead silence. There seems to be no one else in the room or next to her since she can't hear other sounds of breathing except that of her own. That's a good thing since that means that Hotaru and Ruka-pyon were safe and weren't with her.

But what if they were taken somewhere else? What should she do? She spent some minutes agonizing over that new thought that she didn't notice the sound of footsteps coming until they were very nearly at the door of the room. Mikan held herself very still as she heard the door being opened and pretended to still be asleep. Someone switched on the light, and color suddenly exploded behind Mikan's eyes. She gave off a muffled whimper, which was fortunately covered by the voice of one of the two people who entered as they started talking.

"Hmph. I still think that it was too much risk for us to retrieve this pint-sized bundle of a girl underneath the Academy's nose."

_Pint-sized?! Mikan fairly vibrated with anger. I'll show you pint-sized! But she was stopped by the voice of a woman, who Mikan assumes to be his partner._

"I know. But we had no choice. The academy will soon discover her latent abilities and they would surely use it to their advantage.What better timing than now when both the girl and the academy are still ignorant?"

The man unexpectedly laughed.

"My dear Yuka, are you still that naïve? The academy's not stupid, as you may well know. They already suspect this girl due to the fact that she has that man's alice. And as for the fact that she's your daughter…." he let his sentence hang. The woman named Yuka continued to remain silent, and the man went on.

"Did you know that they've already been on her case the moment she step foot inside the academy walls? That's why she'd been a no star student since the beginning without proper judgment.

Fate always plays tricks on us foolish mortals, as it did to you. You who wanted to stop the young students of the academy from being used as tools to an end. You took your daughter as far away as you possibly could to avoid her from being involved from this unseemly mess, only to have your first meeting as parent and child in what? nine, ten years? as that of enemies. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Quiet, Nabara. It's none of you business, so you have no say in the subject. Besides, we first have to decide on what to do with the girl. I still think that you gave her too much of the tranqulizer."

"Oh-Oh! A mother's instinct kicking in, Yuka? Don't you think that it's a bit too late for that?"

"Shut up!"

"Okay, okay! I was just joking….Sheesh…quiet down or we'll wake the girl. As you know, she's an annoying brat when awake." the man named Nabara said.

"I'm already quiet worn out…..Those academy dogs chased us but good. Since the girl's still asleep, we can do nothing tonight anyways."

Mikan then proceeded to hear their footsteps recede back towards the doorway. She heard the door open and waited for the sound that indicated that door was already closed. But it didn't come.

"Yuka, why are you still dawdling? Hurry up!" the sound of the man's voice could be barely heard from outside.

"A-ah. Yeah. I know." came the reply, but it was still about five seconds later that Mikan heard the cryptic whisper, "It _is _too late."

And the sound of the door closing with the lock being put into place followed accordingly.

It has been a while now since the man and the woman had gone, and silence reigned in the night. But Mikan didn't hear it, as she wasn't also able to react to the man's comment, since her ears were buzzing with the knowledge of what she had just heard.

_Daughter? But oka-san's dead! Oji-chan told me so! And if that person was oka-san, oto-san ni dokoni irun dayo? What's going on here? And why are they in the Anti-Gakuen Alice Oraganization?!_

**Translations: **

**oka-san **–mother

**oto-san **--- father

**oji-san** ---grandfather

**oto-san ni dokoni irun dayo** --- then where is father?

**After taking such a long break from making the continuation of this fic, I hope that the people who had supported me when I still wrote under 'RCangel' will continue to do so! And I would greatly appreciate reviews from you people!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Plan**

"The school's in quite a ruckus since that incident yesterday," a middle schooler commented among his friends. They were discussing the kidnapping that had occurred the previous day in Central Town. In fact, the whole school's afire with rumors about it.

"I know, I know. And over a silly girl like that!" laughed another. "I mean, the Anti-Alice organization must be really desperate as to have dropped to that standard to kidnap that stupid child. There are so many others that they could have gotten for ransom instead. Perhaps they were after Imai but confused her with that other girl, though how they could think that that girl might look like a genius inventor's beyond me." he sniggered.

"I bet that she thought they were here to pick her up! Hahahaha…!" the rest of his friends laughed along with him until one of them suddenly punched him.

"What the---!!"

"I dare you to say that again," a sweetly deceiving voice sounded behind the one who punched his friend.

"Tsu-Tsubasa! What are you doing here?!"

"Oh…nothing much… We just wanna join in your conversation, don't we, Tsubasa?" replied a smiling Misaki while crunching her fingers.

"Bu-bu-but it's true! You're always with her so you should--!" he was suddenly silenced by the blow that came from Misaki.

"Damn, you beat me to it Misaki! I thought he was mine!"

"Gomen, Tsubasa, but my arm just shot out all of a sudden," she replied with a scary smile.

"Say that again and this time you'll really regret it." she directed at the she punched.

"_But I'm already regretting it!" he thought desperately._

"Instead of just gossiping and making fun of Mikan, you should have been more sympathetic! What if you were the ones who were kidnapped instead?! You're just a bunch of bas---!"

"Tsubasa! That's enough! Even though I agree that these punks deserve a good beating, it still wouldn't change anything, nor would it do anything to help. We'll just be wasting out time. I don't think they're worth it anyway. Just leave them there with something to do for the next three hours."

"I guess." It was just too bad that the group was talking underneath the shade of a big tree, so Tsubasa then proceeded to write on top the shadows, "Do the Crazy Dance for 3 hours" and hurried along towards the Elementary section of the school.

"Tsubasa! Don't leave us here!" cried the fellows in the group.

Tsubasa and Misaki gave them no heed and continued in their path.

"Dammit! I hate this!" Tsubasa gritted his teeth.

"Tsubasa…."

"I feel helpless…. now that it really matters, I don't have any power to do anything….We should have been with her yesterday! She asked us to come with her but I had something else to do---"

"Tsubasa, you can't always be wherever she is. I know that Imai-san feels worse, since she was the one with Mikan yesterday. The least we could do right now is try to comfort her, don't you think?"

"You're right…. I shouldn't only think about myself. There are others who are worried about Mikan too."

As they got nearer to Mikan's classroom, they couldn't hear the noise usually associated with break times. When they got to the doors, the atmosphere inside the classroom was so gloomy that for once everybody seemed to be behaving themselves. Nonoko wore a long face, while Anna already seems to be on the edge of tears. Iinchou seems to be trying to cheer the others up, but with little success, as he too seems to lapse into fits of silence. But the last row seemed especially quiet.

Only a golden-haired boy who was playing half-heartedly with his rabbit can be seen occupying the length of the seat. He too, seems to be surrounded by a gloomy atmosphere. All was almost silent, except for the small and slight metal sound that can rhythmically be heard every 5 seconds. Tsubasa and Misaki followed the sound, and what met their eyes was the sight of a cap-haired girl who seems to be working on a strange invention.

"Ho-Hotaru-chan…" Tsubasa sweatdropped. "What are you doing at a time like this?"

Hotaru remained silent. Tsubasa had nearly given up in trying to get a response from her when she suddenly said,

"Dekta. Let's go." and with that, she stood up clutching her invention and started to walk out the room. Tsubasa and Misaki couldn't do anything but stare at her, and when she reached the door, she looked back over her shoulder and said, "Well, aren't you coming?" Only then did Tsubasa and Misaki start to follow.

"Wait!" a voice sounded behind them, and when they turned back, they saw that it was Iinchou and Ruka who came after them.

"We want to go with you." panted Iinchou. Permy also stuck her head out the door, but it was to say, "What about class, Iinchou?"

"A-ah… that's okay, Shouda-san. We'll just be gone for a while. We'll be back later."

Without a word, Hotaru started to walk again, so the others were forced to follow her pace. After a few minutes, Tsubasa mused to himself that their little procession seems like a mini-infantry off to war, with Hotaru as their commander. And, also becoming curious as to their destination, he voiced his question out loud,

"Ne, Imai, were are we going…..exactly?" just as they passed by the tree were the group Tsubasa and Misaki met earlier were frantically dancing. Iinchou and Ruka stared at them curiously while Tsubasa, Misaki and Hotaru paid them no mind.

He didn't really expect a response from her, so when she answered, he was a little surprised.

"To find that grouchy kid."

"Grou---Oh, you mean Natsume," Ruka supplied. "But why do you need him?"

"Earlier, I went to the teachers' office to discuss about Mikan's case, demo, Narumi-sensei said that they can't take any acvtions yet due to the fact that the higher ups are still discussing on what to do about it."

"What to do---?! Are they daft? What they have to do is so obvious! They have to find Mikan!" Tsubasa exploded.

"The teachers think that it isn't that easy. There's something else going on here that we know nothing about. And I bet its connected to what we over heard the other day." Ruka quietly interjected. Iinchou has kept quiet although-out the walk, but this time, it was him who suddenly exclaimed,

"Natsume no soko wa!"

The others turned towards the direction he pointed, and sure enough, there was Natsume sitting on a branch, peacefully sleeping as if he had no worries at all in the world. Hotaru rummaged around in the small pouch that was hanging at her side. The others wondered what she might have in it when she suddenly pulled out her baka-gun. They had an uneasy feeling on what it was for, and faithful to their founded expectations, Hotaru aimed it at Natsume's direction and fired.

"Mezamerou, baka."

The manga covering Natsume's face fell to the ground and his eyes slowly opened to reveal flaming pools of fire.

"What the hell do you want?" he snarled.

"Get down here." and with that order, Hotaru proceeded to fire at him some more shot of her baka-gun. Natsume nearly fell. but somehow managed to land safely. A fireball appeared in his palm and he growled,

"I'm going to roast you to a---!"

Hotaru once again fired at him and calmly interjected,

"We've got to plan."

**Translations:**

**Gomen**—Sorry

**Iinchou** -- a title that's adapted into a nickname; representative

**Dekta**--- Finished; done

**Ne**--- Hey

**Demo**--- But

**Mezamerou**--- Wake up

**Natsume no soko wa**---There's Natsume

Yay! finished with chapter 5! I'm sorry if it too so long, but school's been busy lately (again), and I've had little opportunity to follow up in the story. Thanks for all the reviews people! But somehow, the others doesn't want to, so perhaps I'll wait for the reviews to reach 20 first before I continue on to chapter 6? (I'd really like more reviews! LOL)


	6. insert

Hello you guys!

So very sorry for the veryyyyyy long hiatus. Real life intruded ^^. Anyway, I might as well just come out with it. I'm not really sure if I should carry on with my story, since it came out to be (and I'm not boasting or anything), many of the points in my own plot came to be also major points in the actual gakuen alice manga plot. I'll not say what these points are, cause I have something I'd like to know.

If you guys would still say that you'd like me to continue writing the story, then I'd be very much obliged and it'd be my uttmost pleasure. But if not, then I guess that's it.

But not to worry, I still have lots of twists up my sleeve that isn't that same with that of the original.

I just wouldn't like people saying that I copied the mangaka's ideas into my own plot.

And again, I don't own Gakuen Alice.

Lots of love,

angel-alaina


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